Snapshots from our Home Service (Part 3)

Here are the last of our home service pictures... some memories for us to smile at later (and mostly posted with our family in mind).  =)

 

     There's a great second hand store in the little town we lived in, and the kids all found costumes they really liked there for a great deal.  It was perfect when my Grandma invited us to Harbor Crest to celebrate Halloween with her and other residents.  Leif and I dug around in an old costume bin to come up with costumes of our own.  The longer we're away from the States, the more I realize how strange and creepy Halloween is.  It's so gross to me to see skulls and gory decorations everywhere!  And I think our kids were rather startled, too!  Being with my Grandma was the perfect way to celebrate the day.  =)

     There were fun games for the residents, and Anneka and Ike participated. 

     Many of the people there gave our kids candy.  And I thought it was sweet that our kids gave a lot of their candy to other kids who were there.  =)  Anneka ended up ALMOST winning the pumpkin passing game.  Another lady won by a hair, but she told Anneka that she should have won.  =)  Later that evening the girls went to Russian school and Leif, Ike, and I hung out with some friends from the home group we were a part of.  It was nice to be with friends.

     Our kids LOVED sitting in this chair with Gramma Great and pressing the buttons on the controller to make it go up and down!

Russian school got over at 9:00pm, and on this particular night, Ella was so funny-tired!!

     Leif and I took advantage of being close to my parents by taking our kids out on "dates" and giving them each one-on-one time.  They would take one of the kids and we would each take one, too.  =)  Leif showed up to pick up Anneka from school one day, dressed in his tie and with a bouquet of flowers and a dress for Anneka to wear on their date.  She was simply delighted!

     We didn't get pictures of all of our dates, but each of them were special and  unique to each kid.  On this day, I took Ella to the public library in Spokane.  We read a TON of books together and then walked through the shops, had cocoa and a cookie, and then went to the McDonalds with a play place. 

     We all had physicals while we were home, and our mission organization recommends getting extra tests to make sure we're all healthy.  Leif had a positive skin test for tuberculosis.  While his chest X-ray was clear, he had to go on medicine for 9 months, just in case it's dormant in his body (don't worry, he's not contagious!).  Anyways, this meant that the rest of us had to be tested, too.  Of course, the day we went in, our kids had a cold (and coughs!).  I think this was probably one of a handful of days that they had a cough the entire time we were in the States!  But anyways, a nurse rushed out and gave them masks.  Of course, the little ones did not like this.  Thankfully, we're all clear!!  We were worried that the little ones would test positive since they've had the vaccine, but there were no problems.  What a relief!  We were thanking God that we didn't have to have them tested further.


   My mom and Anneka had a little surprise for us at their parent-teacher conference.  Anneka had been learning to play some songs on the piano!  She was so excited to show us what she'd learned in secret!  We will soon be getting an electric piano to play here.  I'm really looking forward to having music in our house.

     Anneka and my mom made these pilgrim hats in school.  I thought the kids looked so cute in them for Thanksgiving!

     The Saturday after Thanksgiving, we put up our Christmas tree.  It was the same day as my parents annual "Open Studio", so we also went there and saw lots of family friends.  (I don't think I took any pictures!)

     That same day my aunt, uncle, and Grandma came over for lunch (as they also went to the Open Studio).  It was really special to get time with them.  A fun surprise (also no picture) was that at the end of the meal, Matthew Wicker (son of our teammates from Ulan Ude) came over with his brand-new fiance, Kylie!  It was so great to share in their excitement!!

family picture in front of our tree, with our Yule Buck (a Swedish tradition).

     The next weekend we got to pick out a real tree with my parents and help them decorate it!

We had a nice walk to and from the tree lot and a fun time decorating together!

     My Dad has an art studio, and he set up a "play in the clay day" for the family.  My cousin Brenda and her family were there, my aunt Claudia and uncle Dan, my parents (of course), our family, and my friend Erin and our new friend, Katie.  Katie is preparing to come to Russia as a missionary, so it was very fun to meet her and get some time with her!  The kids really got into making special clay creations.

     Everyone got into it, actually!  We all had another day a couple of weeks later to glaze everything.

 

     I know it's a lot of work for my Dad to set everything up for everyone, but I'm so thankful we had this time together and time to create and see others create!

     Erin and Katie stayed with us one night.  We did our annual advent calendar (of special activities each day) as well as lighting the candles each night with a Bible passage and Christmas song.  On this evening, we let the kids act out the story of Jesus' birth with their new nativity set.

     Leif and I got to go to our first Family Life Conference this year.  We were a part of the pastor's track and learned more about how to live and love our family well in the midst of a life of ministry.  Something that really stuck out to me was to "expect opposition", as marriages and families are such beautiful pictures of Jesus and His love... and Satan wants to attack and destroy families. We need to be alert to stand firm against him.  It was really fun to get away (my parents took all three kids) and stay in a nice hotel.  I was a little skeptical about it before we went, but it was a very enjoyable weekend.  A couple of weeks later, my parents took the kids again and Leif and I took an anniversary trip to Sandpoint.  That was great, too, to be together with no schedule or seminars to attend.  I feel so blessed to have Leif as my husband!!

     The kids all made homemade gifts for family this year.  It took a lot of time, but it was fun to have this project.  Anneka made personalized travel mugs (and she really thought of what each person would like... it was so sweet), Ella made fun animal magnets, and Ike made bookmarks.  I loved helping them and watching them create!

     The kids' beloved librarian had her last story time before retirement while we were home.  Her last day was a special celebration for her, and the kids were so happy to be there for it.

     I like this picture because it's a reminder to me of God's kindness and provision for our family.  Often Sundays were very busy/long days, and that can be tiring for big people and little people alike.  We were so blessed by the kids' happy attitudes to go to different kids' classes and to travel in the car and go here and there after various services.... but this doesn't mean that it was always easy.  On this particular day we drove 2 hours to church, then we had lunch at the pastor's house and then the rest of the afternoon/evening at some other friends' house.  I wasn't sure how well the kids would do at the lunchtime between the service and friend's house, as I knew it would only be adults and it may be long for them to sit still after sitting in the car and then the time at church.  Anyways, this family had a special kids' room that their grandkids use when they visit, and they made special kid-foods to go with the regular meal at lunchtime.  Chris read the kids books after lunch, too.  The kids happily played and did great!  It was good for my heart to see how much God cares about our kids and their needs.  And a wonderful reminder of how we're a part of God's beautiful family- His church!

     Because we were at a different church almost every weekend, we wanted to be a part of something stable during our time in the States and joined a small group through our home church.  We really enjoyed getting to know the people in this group, and our kids loved the time with the other kids.  (there were A LOT of kids!!)  Often Ella and Ike spent this evening at my parent's house, but Anneka almost always came, and Emma was the biggest reason.  They were fast friends!  It was really hard and tearful for Anneka to say goodbye to her.

     At Christmastime I posted about our early Christmas with Leif's family. Here are pictures of our time (Christmas Eve and Day with my side of the family).  Our kids just love their cousins, Myah, Nora, and Erik!  What a joy it was to see them playing together!

Ike, opening a present with cousin Nora

being silly with cousin, Dave

     The kids were delighted to pass out their homemade presents.  Anneka was especially excited to see everyone open their travel mugs and look at the personalized pictures she made on each one.



     We spent Christmas day with my parents at their house.  Ike and my Dad both got Spiderman and Superman underwear for Christmas.  They would always call each other "Spiderman" and "Superman" (and still do!)  It's funny because both my mom and us got Spiderman underwear for my Dad, not knowing that the other got it.  =)

     To bring in the New Year, we got to celebrate with my Grandma, parents, and aunt and uncle where my Grandma lives.  It was so nice to be together.  The kids' cousins babysat them, so they also had a grand time.
 

     There was great live music and a little floor for dancing.  It was fun to see my parents dancing and to dance with Leif.  As with each new year, we don't know what God has in store.  But we can rest in the joy and cofidence that He's always with us, leading the way!

Baby in a Bag

     Something I've always loved here is how people help each other carry their bags.  It's common to see one person holding one handle of a duffel and someone else holding the other.  Sharing the load.  On this day, I saw these ladies carrying this baby together.  The baby was all bundled up inside of this baby bag.  So cute.

Other Celebrations From These Past Weeks

     Today is International Women's Day, so much of this past week has been themed around this holiday (as it's a big deal here!).   Ella had her very first preschool program.  It was very fun to watch her, as she got very into everything.  She only goes 2 days a week, so she hasn't been there for practices like the other kids, but that didn't faze her a bit.  She just moved her mouth with the songs and smiled (which is pretty much what the kids who'd been there for practices did, too!). 

 Ella was and this little girl were so cute dancing together.  The program was about an hour long.

     Then at our little church, the women got together last week with a focus on prayer (and in honor of women's day).

     And yesterday the mother church of our church had a gathering with women.  It was very encouraging how many women came.  I loved listening to us all singing praises to God together and thinking of all of these women wanting to grow closer in their walks with Jesus.  It was also very encouraging, as last year the womens' gatherings were mostly planned by the missionaries, and this year, much of the planning was done by the local ladies.  It's neat to see them taking the baton and leading in these important ways.


     In February we celebrated Leif's birthday.  Our friends Chingis and Ksusha came in the evening to celebrate with us, and we ate German chocolate cake (Leif's favorite).

Acting silly with Papa!

     Our friends, the Medvedovs', whose house burned down in the fall, had a housewarming party to show off their nice new home.  It's farther away but nice and spacious for them and their seven children.  It's common to bring some sort of gift to a housewarming party, so we brought a couple of games.  All of the kids seemed to like the classic, Connect Four.   It's so horrible all that this family has been through in the past few years, but it is also amazing how God has shown them His loving care and kindness amidst it all.

     As a family, we made a couple of big posters for Valentine's Day.  One was full of pretty hearts and fun decorations.  The other was full of words of things we love about each other.  It was sweet to hear the different things the kids came up with.

I think here Leif was thinking of how to make a kangaroo heart for Anneka.

      All of our kids love crafts.  I gave Ella and Ike cups of glue with paintbrushes and their job was to paste everything on the board.  They liked this job.

 

      While John and Sharon were here, Martina led a Valentine's party (and we hosted).  We had lots of fun games for all of us and wore red and pink.  It was fun to be together as a team for this special holiday.  (Leif and I went out on a date the next weekend and also had a great time!)

     And, as sad as the Superbowl was, it still was fun to be able to watch it just a couple of hours after the game (we didn't look online at all, so the final score was a surprise).

We dressed as festively as we could and cheered the Seahawks on! Hopefully next year the ending will be a little more favorable!!  February is often the longest feeling month here.  This year it flew by!

Celebrating White Month With a White Party

 
      Each year in Febrary (according to the new moon), Buryats celebrate Sagaalgan or the start of White Month.  This began as a holiday commemorating a new year.  And also,by the time it was this far into the end of winter, people were depleted in vitamins, so they would eat lots of white foods (milk products) and meat to try and get some more vitamins in their body to make it through the next months.  It's also a time of newness- saying goodbye to the old year and celebrating the new by deep cleaning their homes (and the white foods symbolizing a fresh start).  Over time, Sagaalgan has adopted many Buddhist traditions and purification rituals.  It often involves waking up really early (like 4:00am!) to trick the spirits, giving offerings to idols, and rubbing dough over their bodies and throwing it into a fire.  Honestly, we don't know a ton about this holiday.  We definitely experience more spiritual oppression during this time of year.  But we wanted to have some Buryat friends over to learn more about their traditions and to share a little about the One who can truly make us whiter than snow!

 
     We were so happy with how many people came!  Several people came early to help us make posie (a meatball wrapped in dough and steamed).  It was fun to have something to to together and a natural time to talk about peoples' traditions.


 

      Here the posies were all layed out, ready to be steamed.  It takes quite a lot of work to make them, but many hands make the task fun!

Even the kids got into making them! None of our pictures show all of the people, but there were 8 kids and 12 adults packed into our apartment, so it was very festive.  We talked with our kids beforehand about how we're all a team, working together... and their role was to help make the other kids feel welcome an to make sure no one was left out.  We were so pleased with how they took this seriously and did a great job!

 

The girls, with their friend, Matthew. They LOVE posie!

 

      We had so much food!  And most of it was either white or meat (I forgot to take a picture).  No one left hungry!

     A very special part of this  holiday is giving presents and blessings.  We were overwhelmed by the generosity of our Buryat friends.  They had everything so specially wrapped, and they gave the children special gifts (lots of candy!), too.  We felt so honored by their thoughtfulness.

     And we also gave little gifts with a Biblical blessing attached.  We had a special (different) blessing for each person (written in both Russian and English) and presented them to our guests.  It was a way to share the source of true blessing, and the most important Blessing in our lives.

     Martina had several fun games for all of us involving popcorn (white food) and archery (with a straw and q-tip), as archery is a Buryat national sport.  And we had a game for the kids where they passed a package around and each got a farm animal toy as a gift.  =)

     After the games, several of us sat around and talked.  Dave and Martina had to leave to get their boys to bed just after 9:00, and they offered rides to a couple of the girls, but the girls stayed.  This was encouraging to us that they felt comfortable and wanted to keep hanging out.

     We're really thankful for this time of learning and sharing.  We look forward to continuing to develop relationships with these friends!

Passing On Greetings

We wanted to post this video here so that you could all see.  Many of you participated in this.  When we were in the States and sharing about our ministry at different churches we recorded different greetings in Russian and Buryat to be able to share with the churches here.  This idea came from the tradition among the churches we work with where there is actually a time at the end of each service for passing greetings along.  It reminds us of the greetings at the end of most of the New Testament letters (read Romans 16 if you want an example of what I mean).  It helps the believers to know that they aren't alone, but there is a bigger family out there.  The final product turned out nicely and was a great encouragement to the people we work with.  We first showed it at the church we attend regularly and there were smiles throughout the crowd when the saw Americans doing their best to share in Russian and Buryat.  One of the babushkas (grandmas) just beamed as she said that it was so wonderful of us to do this.  I (Leif) then showed it at a Buryat prayer meeting and they were so excited that they said I need to put in on facebook so that they can download it and share it with others.  They said it shows the unity of the family of God across nations and some even said that I should record them so that we can bring greetings next time we're in the States.  We'll have to figure that out closer to our next trip back to the States :).
Thanks again for all of you that participated in this, and for those that didn't sorry we weren't able to record you, too.  And for now I'll pass on greetings to you from our Buryat and Russian brothers and sisters in the old fashion way, in writing :).  Hello!  Привет! Сайнбайно!

English Club

     Each week we hold an English Club.  Two evenings a month we have lessons with discussion groups, once a month is a game night, and the other evening is some sort of show or short movie with discussion questions.  It's been a way to meet new people and teach English while sharing Biblical truths at the same time.

After the club everyone hangs around and talks (with tea and cookies, of course).

      Our family has a lot of games-some from wonderful people like you!- and it's great to be able to share them with others.  Here, Leif was teaching a new game to one of the guys.  Ike was a helper.  The kids and I have gone to English Club the last couple of weeks.  They've done well so far, so I think we'll keep going.  It makes it easier for me to invite people I know if I'm actually going to be there, too.  =)




      Most people on game night like to play games that don't require a ton of English.  Leif tries to make everyone use English as they play, but it's not always successful.  =)  But it's still a great week for having fun together and forming relationships.





      And since I'm a mom, I had to include pictures of us on our way to English Club.  Ike preferred sliding down the ramp instead of taking the stairs.


     ... and here are all of my cuties, riding on the bus!  =)